Vote of the week: Theme Park Insider's four-day weekend Asian tour

Published: November 26, 2011 at 8:07 PM

One week from now, you'll be following along on a theme park trip of a lifetime.

Madagascar: A Crate Adventure at Universal Studios Singapore

We'll be starting Friday in Singapore, where we'll be on hand for the media premiere of Transformers: The Ride at Universal Studios Singapore. We'll have interviews with Transformers film director Michael Bay, who served as a creative consultant on the ride, and lead designer Thierry Coup of Universal Creative - not to mention our first look at this newest creation from the team that put together The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

From there, on Saturday we'll be taking a look at the rest of Universal Studios Singapore, visiting many of the other rides and shows at Universal's newest theme park. I'll be grabbing all the photos and video I can, and taking notes for a week-long, in-depth look at this park, to be featured on the Theme Park Insider Blog Flume later in December.

But the trip's just getting started.

Saturday night, I'll be boarding a red-eye flight on Singapore Airlines for a trip to Tokyo, where on Sunday morning I'll be visiting Tokyo Disneyland. I've been taking notes on Disney's first theme park outside the United States and am looking forward to spending the day at a park that mixes much of the best of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom with the best of the original Disneyland.

Monday morning, we're heading over to Tokyo DisneySea, for a day at the only theme park outside the US to be named the winner of the Theme Park Insider Award for World's Best Theme Park. In addition to riding many of the park's unique attractions, we'll also be trying some of the unique food items found only in the park. (Yep, we're finally going to try the Gyoza Dog!)

But with only two days in Tokyo, I can't try everything. So I'll leave a couple of the decisions up to you. The Tokyo Disney theme parks are known for the wide variety of popcorn flavors sold in the parks, far beyond the salt and occasional caramel flavors available in US theme parks. Let's choose one flavor of each:

Like with Universal Studios Singapore, I'm planning special week-long insider looks at each of the Tokyo Disney theme parks later in December.

I've enjoyed reading your many requests for what to cover on the trip, and eagerly await any other requests in the comments. Thank you again for reading Theme Park Insider!

Have a wonderful time!!! I look forward to your many posts concerning these parks. These two parks are part of my "once in a lifetime" dream vacation. I can not wait to see your pictures and hear your opinions on everything from food, merchandise, attractions, to even the ease of travel from your hotel to the resorts.

Butter Soy Sauce for sure (although Black Pepper is a close second). As for the sweet popcorn, ALL OF THEM. Goodness, why not?

For your reviews, go heavy on the photos, please... in fact a photo trip report might be the best option.

Have a great journey, Robert. Your whole life has led to this singular pilgrimage - a pilgrimage all true theme park fans would love to take with you. Know that even in our jealousy we wish you the best of all times!

If you really want an experience of a lifetime, Robert, take the express train from Narita International down to Tokyo Station. From there you can take the local train out to the Disney Resort where the monorail station is. I don't remember if the monorail has a stop at the Hilton, but there's probably a bus or a cab that can get you there pretty easily.

The great part about going this way is Tokyo station. Bullet trains on the top level; express trains on the third level; local trains on the second level; buses on the ground level; and subways down below. Totally organized chaos. Every westerner should do it once just to appreciate the frenetic nature of life in the large Japanese cities.

Incredibly exciting! Does your family get to tag along? As much as we all want to read the in-depth features later in the month, please don't leave us hanging- make sure to post some tidbits in real time while you're there!

I was stuck between Butter Soy Sauce and Curry for the first popcorn-- you can get salt and pepper flavored popcorn anywhere! For the sweet one, I chose honey, but strawberry and milk tea were also close seconds, just because I can't imagine how that would taste as popcorn.

Also, take me with you? Or at least, take as many pictures as possible and give us really great descriptions so I can try to take your vacation vicariously. DisneySea has been dream of mine ever since it opened...

Anyway, have a great trip and know that all of us here are very jealous!